Strange Things
by Ghetto-Kaiba09
Summary: If only Yuma knew what he knows now. AU-ish.


Hey, readers! I'm taking some time away from my busy schedule to write you a nice, depressing fic! I've had some ideas for a while and finally decided to write them, so, enjoy!

"Come on, daddy, we're gonna be late!" A 6-year-old Yuma shouted to his look-alike father, Kazuma, who knelt down to pat him on the head.

"Be patient, Yuma! We'll get there, don't worry." He replied kindly. "Are you ready, Mirai?" He asked the pretty blonde beside him, his wife.

"I suppose." She said with a sigh. "Although I'm not much into this dueling thing, Kazuma, you know that!"

Kazuma chuckled and put an arm around his wife. "Ah, I know, but I figured you might enjoy seeing a real Duel Monster's tournament! After all, Yuma might be in one someday." He said with a wink.

Mirai scoffed. "He better not!" She joked, bringing down a finger to tap her beloved little son on the nose. "We both know how dangerous dueling can be…"

Kazuma waved his hand. "Nonsense! As long as you play your cards right, you'll be fine!"

Mirai rolled her eyes and smiled as she realized there was no reasoning with her husband. She knew how much he loved dueling and this love had now been passed along to Yuma, who was only just a beginner.

Yuma hopped up and down excitedly, his tiny feet pattering against the hardwood floor. "Do you really think I could be in a tournament someday, daddy?" He questioned jovially.

"With a little practice, you could do anything!" Kazuma encouraged. "And who knows," He started with a wink. "Someday I might give you _my_ deck!"

Yuma's eyes lit up and his feet danced in place. "I can't wait!"

Mirai lovingly grinned at her son, her hand stroking his hair gently. She turned to her daughter and mother-in-law, who were not interested in dueling and therefore opted to stay home together.

Kazuma's mother, Haru, her children's beloved grandmother, turned to Mirai. "Are you sure you want to go, dear? You'll be missing out on some girl time with Akari and I."

Mirai nodded and smiled. "I know, I know! But Yuma begged me to go. I don't want to break a promise to him."

Haru nodded in agreement and patted her daughter-in-law on the back before joining her granddaughter, Akari, at the front door to see the trio off.

"Have fun, guys!" Akari called, hugging her parents tightly and leaning down to give her little brother a kiss!""We will, Akari! You take care of grandma, alright?" Kazuma instructed, wrapping an arm around his daughter.

Akari smiled. "Don't worry, I will!"

Mirai kissed her daughter on the cheek and patted her arm.

"We'll be home soon, dear."

Little Yuma threw his arms around his big sister's waist.

"Bye, sissy! I love you!"

"Aw, love you, too, kiddo!" Akari replied, leaning down to hug her baby brother. She kissed the top of his head as Haru stood beside her and patted Yuma's back.

"Bye, sweetheart. Don't you give your parents too much trouble, now!"

Yuma hugged his grandmother tightly. "I won't, grandma. Love you!"

Yuma ran to his family's little red car and eagerly awaited his father to open the door for him. Mirai turned to Haru and Akari and laughed at her son's excitement as Yuma crawled into the backseat, waving excitedly to his sister and grandmother from the window.

The windshield wipers swashed back and forth and the speed of light as Kazuma drove at a snail's pace. It was strange; the weather report never mentioned rain, otherwise Kazuma would've surely stayed home.

"Kazuma," Mirai said worriedly from the passenger's seat. "This rain is awful. Maybe you should pull over?"

Kazuma shrugged and brightened his headlights in the pitch darkness, although it offered no assistance.

"I think we'll be fine, Mirai. Don't worry."Mirai always hated it when her husband told her not to worry. That by itself always _gave_ her a reason to worry!

"Daddy, does this mean we're going to miss the tournament?" A tiny voice called disappointedly from the backseat.

Kazuma and Mirai turned to each other, not wanting to let their son down.

"No, no, Yuma, we'll get there!" Kazuma assured, looking back to give his son a smile. Yuma smiled back and shrunk back into his seat to continue reading from the book in his lap.

For a while the only noise inside of the car was the sound of the squeaky windshield wipers and a light humming from the little boy in the backseat sifting through a picture book. Kazuma reached over and gently held Mirai's hand, not wanting to frighten her. They were lost. They were completely lost. Another hopeless look out the window confirmed once again that they were very, very lost. The visibility was treacherous as now a heavy fog accompanied the torrential rain.

"Kazuma, for the last time, we need to pull over! Or at least stop for directions…" Mirai exclaimed in a whisper to her stubborn husband.

Kazuma groaned in frustration, not wanting Yuma to hear. "Mirai, honestly, we'll be fine! How many times do I have to tell you?"Mirai turned to him and glared. "Not enough! Just pull over! Driving around is only going to get us lost more."

"Why can't you just trust me?" Kazuma questioned, frustrated.

"Oh, Kazuma, now is not the time to argue!" Mirai cried, still in a whisper.

"Who's arguing? I told you, everything is fine!" Kazuma's voice unknowingly had risen.

Yuma looked up from his book and frowned. His parents rarely ever argued…was something wrong?

"Do you want to be responsible if something happens to your son?" Mirai asserted angrily. It was as if they had forgotten that said boy was a mere 2 feet behind them.

"Well, you're going to make something happen if you keep shouting at me!" Kazuma retorted.

"Why can't you just listen to me for once!""Because I told you, everything is fine!"

"No, it's not!"Tears came to Yuma's eyes. For the first time in hours, he peered out the window. Or at least tried to. All he saw were tiny droplets of rain and the blurred appearance of what he assumed was a forest. His parents continued to quarrel. He wanted to shout at them to stop. Fighting wouldn't solve anything! Just like they'd say to him and Akari when they fought. Yuma wiped a stray tear before it had a chance to make it down his cheek.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Mirai cried, her face in her hands.

"Oh, enough already!" Kazuma shouted. "I told you you didn't have to go!"

"I went because Yuma wanted me to!" Mirai replied.

More fighting. More tears. More confusion. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuma could see another set of headlights approaching from the side. He peeked out the window again. They were getting closer…and closer…and closer…

"KAZUMA!"

The lights slammed into the passenger's side of the car. Yuma saw them for a second, and then they were gone. Everything was dark. It was quiet. His head hurt. He lay down across the backseat. Then suddenly, a flash of blue light…

'_You must give up your most precious belonging…'_

Yuma frowned upon hearing a voice. A quiet, unearthly voice. Monotonous, yet calming.

'_At last, I've found you…'_

Yuma opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital bed, his sister asleep beside him with her head resting by his arm. He weakly reached out and began stroking her hair, which woke her.

Akari sleepily raised her head and noticed that her baby brother was finally, _finally _awake.

"Oh, thank God!" Akari cried through her tears and shot forward to grab Yuma, sobbing openly into his shoulder. Yuma's eyes widened in confusion. Akari pulled away and began petting his hair, her hand rubbing against the bandage wrapped around his head.

Yuma eyed his sister sadly before all the memories came flooding back.

"Mommy and daddy…?" He whispered uncertainly. Akari shook her head and once again burst into tears, pressing her face back against his collarbone. Yuma looked up towards the ceiling in shock, his sister's hand methodically massaging his arm.

'_Do not worry, we shall meet soon.'_

Okay, there it is! My weird-as-heck take on Yuma 'giving up his most precious thing' in order to gain power. I've always thought that it should be more along the lines of Yuma doing this unintentionally and inadvertently, so, I wrote this fic! I hope it didn't depress you too much. Until my next fic, readers!


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